Admission requirements
This course is part of the interdisciplinary minor Violence Studies and as such it is suitable for students from a variety of social science disciplines, including security studies, law, criminology, psychology, and related subjects. This course is also available as an elective course.
If you want to take part in the minor but are unsure whether it suits your background, please contact the minor coordinator.
Description
This course focuses on collective forms of violence, that is, violence involving groups. Group violence is an issue that we come across again and again in current affairs, ranging from gang violence, to riots and hate crimes. Given its destructive nature, people often find collective violence difficult to understand. Why would a person join a violent group? How do groups that are normally non-violent become involved in violence?
During the course, students will become acquainted with the most prominent theoretical frameworks on collective violence, derived from the psychological, sociological/anthropological, and criminological literature. We will reflect on the similarities and differences between collective violence and interpersonal violence. We will learn about the different approaches researchers have used to study collective violence, and what they discovered as a result. Although violence is often thought of as anti-social – we will see that violence can be motivated and influenced by very social concerns, like the desire to belong, and the desire to support and protect others.
The course will be composed of weekly contact hours, including lectures and guest lectures. The assessment will be based on an assignment, and a final exam (see below for details).
Course Objectives
After completing the course, students will be able to:
Identify and discuss the main theoretical perspectives on collective violence
Apply these perspectives to better understand “real-world” events;
Extract core ideas from the literature
Communicate core ideas to others
Present your work in a clear and professional way.
Timetable
The timetable for this course can be found on MyTimetable.
Mode of Instruction
This course consists of 14 lectures, including guest lectures.
Total study load for 10 ECTS = 280 hours:
28 hrs lecture
3 hrs exam
249 hrs self-study: reading, preparing lectures, working on assignment, revision for the exam, etc.
Assessment method
Poster, 25% of final grade
Grade can be compensated (through the final exam at the end of the course), resit not possible.
For this assignment, students are required to make a scientific poster, based on a paper related to one of the lectures.
Written exam, 75% of final grade
Grade cannot be compensated, a 5.5 is required to pass the course. Resit will take the same form.
Transitional arrangements
Grades obtained for this course in previous academic years are no longer valid in academic year 2024-2025.
The Course and Examination Regulation Security Studies and the Rules and Regulation of the Board of Examiners of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs apply.
Reading list
To be announced on Brightspace.
Registration
To be announced by OSC staff.
Contact
dr. J.A. van Breen violence@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
This course is the responsibility of the Board of Examiners of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA).
Remarks
This course takes place in The Hague.
Please be aware that resits will be organised in January.
All sessions and examinations will be in English.